Wall panelling with incorporated cupboards designed by Th. Nieuwenhuis for Van Wisselingh & Co, Amsterdam 1908

solid ebony and rosewood, with elaborate carved decoration of stylised leaves and branches, butterflies, animals and human figures, inlaid with lapis, brass, ivory, mother of pearl and coral. Comprising: a wall panelling with three incorporated display cabinets, the largest cabinet with a display compartment with four sliding doors above a large fall front door, opening to a compartment for storing large folders, flanked by two display cabinets with thirteen adjustable pull-out shelves lined in velvet, with ebony knobs inlaid with ivory, the fall front door and the two flanking doors applied with decorative brass hinge plates etched with floral ornaments, the cabinet continuing to the left side in a corner display cabinet with four doors opening to two shelves terminating into semicircular shelves, the panelling continuing along a doorway (probably meant for double suite doors) on both sides. The opposite side continuing with panelling incorporating a smaller display cabinet with two doors opening to three shelves, the panelling terminating after a straight angle



 

J. F. Heijbroek & E. L. Wouthuysen, Portret van een kunsthandel; de firma Van Wisselingh en zijn Compagnons 1938-heden, Zwolle 1999,  pp. 155-156, 175 and 264-265

 

from: Afbeeldingen naar ontwerp van Th. Nieuwenhuis. Uitgave van de werkplaats van E. J. Van Wisselingh & Co, pl. 3, vol. I, 1911

[entry for page 27]

An art collector's room designed by Th. Nieuwenhuis, executed by Van Wisselingh & Co, Amsterdam

The following lots (nos. 46 - 48) were commissioned by Eppe Roelfs Harkema (1869-1938) in 1908. Harkema, a wealthy tobacco dealer from Amsterdam, was known as a great benefactor of high culture and as a passionate art collector. From 1903 onwards, Harkema was a regular customer at the renowned Amsterdam art dealer’s Van Wisselingh & Co, buying contemporary Dutch art and Asian artefacts. Harkema  owned the most complete collection of etchings by Marius Bauer, which were stored in beautifully decorated portfolio’s bearing his monogram EHR designed by Th. Nieuwenhuis.

Theodoor Willem Nieuwenhuis (1866 - 1951) ranks amongst those versatile Dutch artisans who, unlike Berlage and his circle, focused on the richness of ornament and material -and thus on exclusivity. From 1898 onwards, Nieuwenhuis worked for the Van Wisselingh workshops, initially with his friends Dijsselhof and Lion Cachet (see lots 52 & 56) and after 1906 as the main designer and decorator of the gallery. In these years, Nieuwenhuis developed his characteristic idiom of stylised flower- and leave ornaments, carved in precious exotic woods or applied in metalwork, fabrics and earthenware.        

In 1908, Harkema commissioned Nieuwenhuis to decorate his villa at the Museumplein, including the lots here offered for sale which originate from the drawing room of the villa, designed for housing Harkema’s art collection. The low cabinets incorporated in the richly carved and inlaid ebony and rosewood wall panelling were meant for showing oriental artefacts, books and books of plates. Apart from the loose display cabinet (lot 49), the room was furnished with lamps, batiked ceiling panels and a set of four mahogany chairs and a small table. One of these chairs, upholstered in mock velvet with batiked pattern and carved with the monogram EHR, is in the collection of the Rijksmuseum since 1971, a second chair is in the Meentwijck collection in Bussum and a third in another Dutch private collection.

At his retirement from the tobacco industry in 1913, Harkema moved to his newly built countryhouse ‘Langewijnen’ in Laren, which was also furnished by Van Wisselingh & Co with designs by Nieuwenhuis.

It is unknown when the objects here offered for sale were removed from the Museumplein villa. The loose segments were purchased by the late husband of the present owner at an antique dealer in the 1970's, and carefully built in their house in Oestgeest, from where they have now been removed.